Three
by FujiwaraYuko
Summary: There is someone I must meet again, and until that day . . . not even Death itself can take my life away. {Zoro x OC}
1. Preface

Preface

Have you ever wondered why Zoro has exactly three earrings? Or maybe you've once wondered why Zoro started training santoryū—the three-sword style? Kami, he even combated with Mr. Three in Alabasta.

Notice the pattern? Everything Zoro does relates to the number three. Why, even his bounty of 120,000,000 belli is divisible by the number, though that might be a bit . . . _excessive._

Though he'd never admit it, his red string of fate and golden string of luck came from three promises—three promises he made . . . with his closest friend.


	2. Chapter One: How It All Began

Rosy Fire- Thanks so much for the support! I guess we'll just have to find out who that person is in the story ;)

rie- Thanks! And I will definitely continue this story :)

AnimeGirl4891- Here's the next one for ya! :D

**Chapter One**

**How It All Began**

_Before Time Skip_

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

_I chugged down another mouthful of sake as my fellow crewmates ate their food boisterously as they usually did._

_ Luffy was quaffing dozens upon dozens of meat, consuming literally the entire stock of meat the Merry could carry. Meanwhile, Nami was eating beside him politely—in a ladylike manner, while she attempted to map the previous island we landed at. With a book in one hand and a spoonful of Sanji's soup on the other, Robin, multitasking, ate and studied to her heart's content. Usopp was haunting Chopper with his tall tales, and I? I was neck and neck to Sanji, insulting my comrade's cooking, saying it was crap. Insulted, his fiery spirit flamed, him spatting back at me insults and bickers._

_ "Oi, oi," Nami sighed. "Relax, you two. Too loud for me to map things to scale, and I bet Robin, though calm, is annoyed that you're rumbling the sunny to the ground. Neh, Robin?"_

_ She chuckled, "Yes, Nami."_

_ Sanji, being the womanizer he always was to begin with, became all floppy with hearts in replacement of his eyes, "Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Gomen! It's this marimo's fault!"_

_ I stood up with a jolt, "Oi! It's your fault, you shitty cook!"_

_ His eyes flared at the nickname, "What'd you say, you shitty swordsman?"_

_ I seethed words through my teeth before repeating, "It's your fault, you shitty cook."_

_ This time, before we could cut each other's throats, Robin used her devil fruit powers to break us apart._

_ "I think that's enough of that," she said audibly for us to hear before we could cause a ruckus and spark Nami's anger._

_ We stopped our fight, but Sanji punched my green haramaki, dropping an article of paper on the wooden floor of the Merry._

_ I didn't notice what fell, instead fixing the wrinkled in my clothing. Luffy, however, curious as always, extended his rubber arm to the piece of paper, picking it up inquisitively._

_ "Hat's disk?" Luffy asked through a mouth full of chewed meat._

_ Nami snatched the paper from his hands before quickly chiding, slapping his back in the process, "Luffy! Don't talk with your mouth full!"_

_ "Gomen, Nami . . ." he muffled, tears streaming down his face and onto the table._

_ Nami scanned the paper, noticing that it was the backside before flipping to the forefront. Her eyes widened at the sight. Less than a second later, everyone aside from myself, had his or her faces squished together to see what surprised Nami so much._

_ Before long, I noticed that something was missing in the folds of my haramaki. My eyes widened as I remembered that Luffy took a piece of paper off the floor just moments before._

_ My head snapped at my crewmates' direction, seeing their facial expressions to the slip of paper. I deadpanned, rubbing my forehead._

_ "Wh-wha-whaaa!" Nami shouted, dark shades of black under her widened eyes._

_ Sanji's cigarette was on the floor, as his mouth was agape. Robin had an odd expression on her face as she stood over her fellow crewmates, an expression that of slight shock. Meanwhile, Usopp and Chopper stared at the slip of paper, mouths and eyes both wide. Luffy, on the other hand, was still eating, completely oblivious to the situation._

_ Walking over to the lot of them in a flash, I snatched the slip of paper out of Nami's grasp and placed it back in the folds of my haramaki before plodding out of the room with a slightly angered attitude._

**Third Person's Point of View**

_"N-nani!" Nami continued to shout, still stunned._

_ Robin, deep in thought, murmured, "Very interesting, in fact. Who would have thought the swordsman could even do such thing?"_

_ "Oi, oi, what happened?" Luffy asked once he swallowed his share of food and caught onto the situation._

_ Sanji's eyes flared, "No way is this happening!" He stomped his foot on the bench, "I will have his head for this!"_

_ Usopp and Chopper fainted, sprawled over the wooden floors in shock._

_ Luffy's eyes widened even further as he realized the situation must be a shocker if Zoro stomped out the kitchen and Usopp and Chopper fainted._

_ "Oi, oi," the captain stammered. "What's wrong? Nami? Sanji? Robin?"_

_ No one answered his or her captain._

_ "At least tell me what that slip of paper was?" Luffy stared at his three still 'alive' comrades, putting down his meat on his plate—a rare event._

_ Robin was first to recover, immediately answering her captain, "The piece of paper was a photograph of Zoro and a young woman."_

_ Luffy's rubber mouth was now actually on the floor, his reaction, shocked, but not to the extent like everyone else in the room._

_ "What's wrong with that?" he asked a little more serious than usual._

_ "Would you imagine a guy like Zoro having a girlfriend?!" Nami hollered, snagging Luffy's ear, her teeth that of a shark's._

_ "Ow, ow," the captain of the ship whined at the navigator's actions. "No, but I don't see anything wrong with it."_

_ The navigator sighed before saying, "That didn't look like they were siblings or anything of the sort either."_

_ "Indeed," Robin replied after taking a sip of her steamed herbal tea—the scent spreading out throughout the entire kitchen._

_ An image of the black and white photograph flashed through Robin's mind once again. Zoro was wearing a suit and tie, which was difficult to imagine. The young woman, wearing a somewhat black strapless gown, had her hand at Zoro's chest. They were both smiling in the picture. Zoro seemed relaxed, which was quite rare, since the said man was always on edge. The woman had her mid-length hair neatly tucked in a half ponytail. She was not curvy, thin, and her smile to any person was captivating. She was naturally beautiful, the only makeup that seemed to etch her face was the mascara, which seemed to make her eyes seem bolder for purposes of the photograph. Below the photo were a few sentences, but Robin couldn't remember what they said._

_ "She's too pretty for that marimo," Sanji muttered aloud for everyone to hear._

_ Nami began recalling the photograph herself before saying, "The words at the bottom, though . . . I forgot what they said."_

_ Robin sighed, "So did I?"_

_ Nami asked the cook standing beside her, "Sanji? Do you remember what the words said?"_

_ The said man snorted before blowing smoke out of his lungs, "Tch, I was too busy looking at the girl."_

_ Nami slapped his back in frustration, "Player!"_

_ "Nami-swan!" he begged. "Don't worry! I love you too!"_

_ Nami deadpanned before knocking the cook of the ship out for good._

_ Luffy, who had been quiet the entire time, suddenly spoke out, "I think they're sibli-"_

_ "Shut up! They're definitely not!" Nami knocked her captain out as well._

_ At this point in time, the only remaining people awake were Nami and Robin, who all, before long, left the kitchen for their dorm to rest and gossip about the matter at hand._

_ Nami shook her head, resting in the netted hammock, "I still can't believe it."_

_ "Neither can I," Robin replied to her friend._

_ "But we need to get that picture back one day," the orange-haired girl smirked at the ceiling. "Then we can read what the words on the paper were."_

_ Robin smiled, "Indeed, we do."_

_ With that being said, the two women bid each other goodnight before drifting to sleep._

_End of Flashback_

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

_After Time Skip_

"Oi, oi!" I growled at Chopper. "Give me back my earring! I can't wear only two rings on one ear!"

"Usopp!" Chopper shouts his crewmate's name before tossing my golden earring to the long-nosed man.

The Pinocchio caught the gold piercing before bolting for the door back inside the Sunny.

"Argh," I mumbled incoherent words before hurtling for the door Usopp entered.

This little game of chase happened once I woke up. Noticing that my one of my gold earrings was gone, I rushed for the kitchen as calmly as I could, asking my crewmates if they had seen it.

Chopper, of course, looked on edge and jittery and bolted out the door, hinting that he was the one at fault, but the various smirks plastered on all my comrades told me otherwise. It seemed as if they all played their part in this little plan of theirs.

I grumbled at the situation. This was not going as I thought it would. After half an hour of this bickering toss-and-tag, I thought that they'd stop this nonsense, but _no. _They didn't. Why, they didn't even tell me what they wanted from me.

Once I saw that Usopp had passed my earring to Nami, I smirked, sprinting after her through the wooden hallways. No offense to our navigator, but she was just about the weakest link of the Straw Hat Crew. Just _about._

She made a sharp turn at the edge of the hallway much swifter than I had anticipated. I grunted in response to the situation before I realized the reason why Nami was suddenly faster than usual.

I cursed under my breath, "Damn that Robin."

Though she wasn't present in the hallway, hands were sprouted all over the hallway Nami turned upon. Some were boosting her speed by giving her some pushes along the way, while others were like vines preventing me from moving to my destination.

I held in a breath. I had to formulate some sort of plan before it was all over.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I noticed there was a slight hesitance in Robin's arms.

"_Of course,_" I thought. "_She's not my enemy, so she won't hurt me."_

Using the back of my sword, I 'sliced' my way through the hundreds of hands that hindered me from getting my earring back. All this for to get my earring. Though, it wasn't long before I reached about ten meters near Nami. Upon noticing my presence, she increased her speed before slamming the door to the Sunny's deck wide open. Upon exiting the inner sanction of the ship, the orange-haired navigator tossed the gold earring to the raven-haired captain—Luffy. He stretched his arm to the tip of the crow's nest, laughing maniacally along the way.

"Tch," I spat before summoning all my strength to the soles of my feet, jumping up a third up to the crow's nest before jumping two more times to actually reach the lookout slash training room.

Once I entered the crow's nest, I realized that Luffy wasn't there. My eyes scanned the corners of the room once again before bolting out the nest.

"_He must have hidden up above the nest,"_ I mentally deduced.

Looking up at the top of the nest to see whether or not my assumption was correct or not, I caught a glimpse of red flash by me back down to the grassy deck of the Sunny.

I inhaled and exhaled a deep breath before continuing my chase. Luffy used the pointed pole that waved the pirate flag of our crew as a tool to increase his speed, zooming past me supposedly along with my gold earring.

"Franky!" I heard Luffy yell as he tossed a glint of gold to the cyan-haired man.

"Damn it," I cursed under my breath as I had to run yet another run to retrieve my gold earring.

Zipping past the various people on deck—Luffy, who was clutching his hat as he watched the events unfurling before him in glee, Robin, who tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with a smug smile, Nami, who observed everything happening with a glint of delight in her eyes, Usopp, his shooter staff in hand, laughed at the happening, and Chopper, sparkles in his eyes, viewed the events like a movie, I attempted to reach Franky, who was nearly a centimeter away from my grasp, but he used one of his mechanical madness to jump further away from me and then suddenly gone as if to thin air.

I internally growled. This was becoming more of a nuisance than any fun my fellow crewmates had in mind. I tapped my feet against the floorboards for a moment as I thought of plan.

My eyes widened in realization. The crow's nest! I could use that as a lookout, thought it, in fact, was a lookout. In any case, I would use the metal pole that connected the pirate flag to the ship as a gazer, find Franky, and then finally jump from the crow's nest to Franky and retrieve my earring back.

I smiled at my ingenious plan. Jumping my way up to the crow's nest, I managed to reach the metal pole, leaning against it as I found Franky who sat at the edge of the Sunny, right beside the lion mascot.

Smirking I used the nest as a ledge before jumping down to Franky. However, my luck for the day ran out, slipping through the sieve.

"Brook!" Franky tossed my precious earring to the skeleton, who seemed glad that it was finally his turn to play part in the 'genius' plan.

I grunted as I grasped the last grain of luck before it slipped through the sieve. Still in midair, I switched directions from Franky to Brook before snatching the earring aimed for Brook while still in the air.

"Aw, dang it!" I heard Nami shout. "Franky! Brook!"

"Gomen," Brook mumbled his apology in his little blue corner of shame.

Franky shrugged in reply, a smile still plastered in his face, "Meh."

I smirked as I looked at the piece of gold in my hand. My eyes widened. True, it was gold, but it wasn't my earring. Rather, it was a thin gold strip in shape of a small statuette.

Angry, I threw the piece of gold at Nami, who caught the gold happily. Everyone was on deck and had played their part in the wild goose chase—the captain, the navigator, the archeologist, the mechanic, the sniper, the doctor, the musician . . .

My head snapped in realization. That shitty cook.

Bolting for the kitchen, I rammed the door open gasping for breath by the time I reached the end of my destination.

"Number Seven, give me back my flipping earring now," I glared at him, a glint of violent vehemence evident in my eyes.

The blonde man continued to chop the French onions on the beige cutting board. His knife glinted against the sunlight stretching from the glass windows of the Thousand Sunny.

"Oi, answer me!" I shouted, now striding over to where the cook was.

The said man stopped cutting the onions, instead turning to face me.

"You mean this?" Sanji asked, getting something out of his pocket, before revealing a dangling gold earring in his hand.

Eyes now wide, I aimed to snatch the piece of gold out of his hand.

"Damn you, Sanji," I seethed through my teeth. "Give me back my freaking earring."

At this point in time, I was almost punching the blonde man, trying to retrieve my earring back.

He dodged all my attacks, lighting his cigarette along the way, before asking, "Why do you need this so badly anyways?"

Out of the blue, I halted my attacks aimed at the cook, reminiscing the meaning of my three earrings.

Sanji seemed to notice my sudden waver in attitude, the waves that brushed off me were not that of violence like moments before, but rather that of thoughtful pondering.

He blew out a breath full of smoke before tossing me my gold earring.

I caught the embellishment with ease before I looked at him warily. No attacks, no insults . . . A bit too odd for comfort. I put back on the earring before anyone could snatch it away from me again.

The cook turned his back to me, seemingly heading back to work for the crew's breakfast, before saying, "The crew and I expect something in return for giving you back the earring."

He began stirring the stew in the pot adding his freshly chopped onions into the soup before test-tasting the dish.

Through my sole open eye, I asked him cautiously, "And why should I? You took my earring, made me go on a wild goose chase, and finally after almost an eternity go and find _you_ of all people for my _actual_ earring in return. What, do tell me, do I owe you and the rest of the crew?"

"Mind showing us that photograph in your haramaki?" the blonde cook answered me bluntly.

I bit the inner of my mouth, chewing it, before replying, "It's my personal business. Why should I?"

The cook discarded his cigarette into the trash after dampening the burnt tip of the smoking device.

"You know how Luffy and Nami can get," the blonde man chuckled. "Once they've set their eyes on something, they don't get their eyes off it."

"Tch," I grunt. "How troublesome."

"Telling us over breakfast would be nice, but lunch or dinner might as well be fine too," the cook said, adding a little salt and pepper to his stew.

"You already saw it once," I said brusquely. "Why the need to see it again?"

Sanji sighed, "For one, Brook's interested in seeing the girl in the photograph himself and probably squeal in delight for her panties. Franky's interested because the rest of the crew is. Luffy is always curious, so that's a given. Nami and Robin saw words etched at the bottom of the paper, but you snatched it away before they could read it. Evidently, they're intrigued beyond repair. Usopp and Chopper fainted last time, so they want to see her face again. Say, who was she anyways?"

I growled at him before heading for the door, "None of your business."

He smirked, "So you say. You seem quite protective of that photograph."

I grunt before opening the door and heading out.

Sanji called out to me, saying, "By the way, Zoro, the earring I gave you isn't your actual earring!"

My head snapped as I struggled to take off the earring I had previously put back on. My eyes widened as I realized that the earring was a girl's earring. It had the same figure my own earrings, but it was embellished with a carved name—Nami.

I deadpanned, clutching the fake earring near to its 'suffocation.' Stomping angrily out of the kitchen, I passed by Nami, stuffing her gold earring back into her hand before returning to the crow's nest to complete my daily training . . . and forget about the bickering so far that day.

**Third Person's Point of View**

Everyone looked as Zoro locked himself in the crow's nest to both train and be on the lookout. No one understood why Zoro was so secretive about the black and white photograph. It was just a photograph, right?

"You don't think the girl in that photo . . . died, do you?" Usopp widened his eyes a the thought.

Nami, stroking her chin with her fingers with one hand as the other arm rested under her chest, pondered before replying to Usopp's remark, "Naw, I don't think so. Though I must admit, it _is_ a possibility, just not a likely one in my eyes."

Robin had her head stuffed in a book, reading away, as she listened and observe her surroundings. She began believing that it was possible that the girl in the photograph could be deceased, but there was no evidence saying that she wasn't alive either.

"Argh!" Nami shouted in frustration. "We need to find Zoro's photograph containing all his secrets to his secret life! I mean, everyone knows each other's backstory here, but the _only_ person's history we don't know is Zoro's. Yeah, we know he's a swordsman and he gets lost easily, but that isn't history! That's his personality and daily struggles. That's just _defines_ Zoro, but how did he become a swordsman? _Why_ did he become a swordsman? Argh! All these questions about the photograph too!"

"That's true," Chopper muttered in agreement with Nami. "But, Zoro doesn't have to tell us everything about him, right? Everyone has their secrets."

"Yeah, but mine was _spilled,"_ Nami whined. "And we know at least _something_ about Luffy. He has a brother Ace, his dad, Dragon, is a rebel, his grandfather's a marine . . . But we don't even know _anything_ about Zoro."

"What about Saga?" Usopp asked, remembering the small adventure where Saga manipulated Zoro into helping him revive an ancient, evil sword.

"Okay, yeah, he was a childhood friend, or, at least someone connected to him," Nami waved that matter off. "But, we don't even know who raised the flipping guy! For all we know, monsters could have raised him, which, by the way, does support the evidence that he showers only once a week. Ugh, he always _smells!_"

"Wait," Franky tarried. "I've never seen this photograph before, but from how you all are describing it, there's just a few sentences at the bottom of the photo, right? I also remember Nami saying that the backside of the photograph was blank."

Nami answered his question, "Yeah, Robin, Sanji, and I were too busy looking at the photo and too shocked that Zoro took a picture with a _girl_ and _smiling_ in the process. Too much to comprehend, truth be told. Also, Sanji was too busy ogling the girl to even notice that there were words at the bottom of the paper, anyways."

"Breakfast's ready, everybody!" Sanji yelled from the kitchen, as Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp immediately ditched their fellow crewmates for the kitchen, too hungry for words.

Before long, the rest of the crew file into the kitchen, taking their respective seats around the dining table, taking into account of all the delicious dishes placed before them, as if _waiting_ for them to devour.

"Finally!" Luffy shouted in glee. "Some food!"

Sanji's eyes were shaded by his blonde bangs before he took his cigarette out of his mouth with his left hand, the last tray of food in his right hand, and he strew the smoke in his lungs out slowly.

"Indeed, so," the blonde man tarried the 'so.' "Captain."

"Yippee!" the said raven-haired boy shouted in glee, jumping up and down at the dining table.

"Luffy!" Nami reprimanded, punching his back in discipline. "No jumping at the dining table! Show some manners!"

Luffy turned his face to Nami, tears streaming down his face like a gentle waterfall, before pouting, "B-but, Nami . . ."

The orange-haired girl was taken back by her captain's actions, but quickly recovered, "No, you little baka! Do you know what no means?"

The captain's expression turned from that of sad to happy in a split second, "Yup! Aren't you proud of me?"

A twitch mark formed on the navigator's forehead before she sighed, "Just eat . . ."

With that being said, the entire crew dug into the food before their eyes.

With his mouth full, Chopper asked everyone present in the kitchen, "M-hey, ngisn't shumumdy trissing?"

After she gulped down her food, Nami slammed her fists on the table, shark teeth now visible and glare evident that could pierce through your very flesh, "I go through _all_ that trouble to pound some manners into Luffy, and then _somebody else_ just _has_ to talk with his mouth full."

Chopper immediately reclined back into his seat, pushing his thought back to the corner of his mind, "Um, never mind."

Nami sighed, feeling as if she, aside from Robin, were the most sensible ones on the Thousand Sunny, before sighing the words, "But, what were you going to say, Chopper . . ."

"Where's Zoro?" the reindeer asked innocently, a small, circular rice cake in hand.

Three seconds of silence hung in the air before chaos erupted in the kitchen.

"Yes! I'll take his food!" Luffy shouted for everyone to hear.

"I call the pork!" Franky hollered over everyone's voices.

"Oi, oi, then I call the eggs!" Usopp yelled, grabbing the eggs off the main dish.

Nami simply slapped her face, dragging her palm down the edges of her face.

"I give up," she grumbled, taking her plate full of delicious foods outside to the deck of the Thousand Sunny.

The navigator left the kitchen and headed for her respective room to continue mapping the island she and the crew were previously at just days before.

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

Lift.

Pull down.

Lift.

Pull down.

This pattern continued on and on as I practiced my daily weight-training routine. My right palm slobbered the wooden boards of the crow's nest with sweat as my left hand held a hundred-fifty pound weight and my feet holding a three hundred weight to scale.

I grit my teeth as I realized the pain in my abdominal muscles constrict and contract in the most _unbearable_ manner.

"_I need to work out more,"_ I clenched my teeth as the thought ran through my mind.

At this point in time, it was sunset. The glorious rays of the sun scattered like broken glass through the window. The sky was clear, displaying the magnificent shades of gold, soft burgundy, and orange painted across the horizon. In other words, it was simply ravishing.

I kept my mind on the breathtaking view to block out the agonizing cries of pains and aches that shook my body nearly to a crumble.

However, instead, my mind raced to this morning, when I abandoned breakfast and lunch with my crewmates. Truth be told, I wasn't in the mood for their irritating nags for the photograph in the folds of my haramaki. I had _enough_ of that from two years earlier. I didn't want anyone invading my private life. In the least, I didn't want to reveal my personal life until I was ready. However, it seemed as if my captain and crew had a rope tangled around my neck, pressuring me to spill out my secrets to them before I was hung to death.

I chuckled at the thought. Them? Hanging me?

Tossing the weights in the air like feathers, I landed on my two feet, instead of pressing all my weight onto my right hand like moments before. I caught the weights with two of my hands, maintaining my balance, as the weights were of two different weights.

I carefully placed the weights neatly back onto the shelves before shuffling my feet down to the men's dormitory.

"Tch," I grunted as I reached my room. The door wouldn't open.

After constant tugging and pulling at the door, I shouted, "Who's behind this crap?"

I heard a familiar, nagging voice shout, "Zoro! Tell us the story of your life!"

"_Damn that Luffy,"_ I mentally snapped before letting go of the door and stomping out of the hallway. "_Enough of this already."_

Going out on the deck to enjoy the sunset view and to soothe my increasing anger, I writhed my way past my fellow crewmates who would probably try to sneak up on me to steal away my photograph.

Once I reached my destination—the lawn of the Thousand Sunny, I leaned my three swords upon the white, wooden railing before collapsing down, resting my head against the rail and my body against the slim wooden boards, and before long, my eyes succumbed to the much needed nap.

**Third Person's Point of View**

In due time, sunset came to a pass and dusk overcame the golden rays with an eerie darkness, outstretching far and wise across the horizon. With stars scattered across the blanket of twilight like glitter, the skies were painted with, not only pitch-darkness, but also with deep, midnight navies and varying scales of gray.

The green-haired swordsman, asleep against the white railing of the Thousand Sunny, opened his sole, usable eye, before surveying his surroundings. The deck was a blank, viridescent canvas, showing no signs of life whatsoever. The only flicker of movement shown was the motion in the kitchen, as the yells, shouts, and laughter of his crew was apparent.

The man sighed, stomach growling continuously. He hadn't eaten since supper last night, and, now, twenty-four hours later, he _still_ couldn't eat, for his teammates would nag and harass him until he told them his backstory and showed them his invaluable photograph.

He rubbed the creases of his abs, his stomach still growling uncontrollably, before deciding that he would just take some food from the dinner table and leave.

Once he reached the kitchen door, he treaded the entrance open before crossing the threshold.

His crewmates were still noisy and loud, barely heeding him any notice as he crept over to his normal seat to grab a plate full of whatever food he wanted and needed—both nutritious and delectable-wise. Since he sat between Chopper and Robin, they didn't pay much attention to him, as Chopper was too busy usurped in Usopp's, for once, actual tales of adventure and Robin was, as usual, stuffing her head into a book, absorbing as much information as she could from the textbook.

After he filled half his dish, the green-haired man reached to add some stew to his bowl before he noticed a shiny glint beside the pot of stew. His eyes widened as he realized it was his missing earring, stolen from his crewmates just that morning.

As he reached to grab it, a slim hand abruptly snatched the piece away, just in the nick of time before the swordsman could reach it.

Zoro growled in protest, attempting to snatch his earring back from the orange-haired navigator.

"Tell us the story and show us the picture, Zoro," she sing-songed. "And I'll cut your debt by five percent, you get your earring back, and you can finally rest in peace."

Zoro deadpanned, "It's my personal life, Nami."

She stuck her tongue at the irate man before her, "Not in my opinion. We know a little bit about everyone here in the least, but _nothing_ about you. If you are to be on our team, we should at least know _something_ about you, baka."

The green-haired man seemed to ponder about her offer and reason for knowing. He knew that it would _never_ be the end of the conversation until he told them, in the least, _something,_ since they still remembered the photograph after two years of separation.

Also, the debt cut of five percent wasn't half bad, but he still wanted his debt reduced by _much _more, so he bargained, "Cut my debt by fifty percent and give me back my earring and I'll tell you."

Everyone's eyes glittered, looking at Nami expectantly for her to agree to the man's terms. Zoro was actually complying for once. Since when did such a miracle occur? Once in a million?

Nami rubbed her temple, seeing as the stakes were too high, before finally settling, "Your debt will be cut by twenty-five percent instead of five, and you will get your earring back. How does that sound?"

Zoro thought about the terms intensely before he would reply. This kind of deal from the money-hoarding Nami didn't come very often. Twenty-five percent? That was a lot, _especially_ in Nami's terms.

The swordsman sat down, arms crossed against his broad, hardened chest, before replying, "Alright. I agree with the terms."

An eruption of cheers was heard the moment the first mate accorded with Nami's proposition. Luffy was jumping up and down in excitement, as he would very soon be hearing a new "adventurous" story from, not just anybody, but from his first mate—Zoro. Chopper and Usopp, interested in the story highly since they fainted the last time the event started, were looking at each other with sparkling eyes, not believing that the swordsman agreed to Nami's terms. Brooke and Franky sat calmly in their places, smirks plastered across their faces, as, though they weren't present when the photograph was first leaked, heard Nami's rants about the subject millions of times to be both beyond bored and interested. Meanwhile, Sanji took his cigarette out of his mouth, his eyes shaded intensely by his golden bangs, still furious that Zoro took a picture with such a "beautiful woman" who was "way out of the marimo's league." Robin and Nami? Smug smiles smothered their faces, curiosity levels as high as ever.

And Zoro? Though still quite enraged at his fellow crewmates for prying into his personal life, he slightly agreed that he should have revealed _some _of his past to his friends, whom he had fought with, protected, and lived with for the past myriad of years, though he'd never admit that to anybody.

Nami tapped her foot on the varnished, wooden floorboards at a steady rhythm, "Zoro? The story?"

"Ah, right," the swordsman nodded his head after he swallowed part of his food. "It all started when I was about eight . . ."


	3. Chapter Two: Once Upon a Time

_Zororenjilover- Thanks! Yeah, it's a bit slow, but it's detailed. After another chapter of memories of Zoro and Yuki, the real action begins (Chapter Four) And it's going to be great! :)_

_Guest- Suspense is awesome. (I should probably thank the person who invented it . . . literally) xD_

**Chapter Two**

**Once Upon a Time**

_Nami tapped her foot on the varnished, wooden floorboards at a steady rhythm, "Zoro? The story?"_

_ "Ah, right," the swordsman nodded his head after he swallowed part of his food. "It all started when I was about eight . . ."_

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

The hanging metal light, which its dim rays were scattered throughout the entire kitchen, casting a varying spectrum of gray shades beside cabinets, chairs, and tables, began shaking noisily as I began telling my fellow crewmates my story.

My debt was cut by twenty-five percent. My stomach was somewhat filled. I got my golden earring back. What else could be better?

I began sifting through my memories, trying to figure out which one started from where I met _her._

Before long, I found the memory, caught it, and replayed it in my mind once again, as if it were a long-lost tape in a basement, holding videos of both a forlorn and happy childhood.

The edges of my mouth curved up into a fond smile before, as usual, returned to its usual smug one.

It wasn't until then . . . that I began my story.

_Flashback_

_ I was eight years old when I trained at Shimotsuki Village. Back then, I was strong enough to defeat almost any adult, but I couldn't defeat this one girl named Kuina, the Dojo master's daughter. I had made a bet with the Dojo master, saying that if I could defeat all his Dojo students, I wouldn't stay and be his disciple. If I didn't, however, I would stay and learn from him._

_ So, I did beat all of his students, but I saw one girl who passed by the Dojo with a wooden sword in hand, and I challenged her . . . and I lost. So, I became a student at that Dojo. It wasn't until days later that I found out that she was the Dojo master's daughter, and she had already defeated every person who fought in the way of the sword in the entire village._

_ I fought her almost every day on end. I never beat her, though. Not even once. Once I battled her for the two-thousandth time with real swords, for once, she won again, earning her consecutive two-thousandth victory over me._

_ I broke down right in front of her after that match. I told her my dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman too, and she broke down with me. That was the first time I ever saw her cry, so when she did, I asked her why. She told me she shared the same dream, but her father said she's never attain it because she was a girl. It was then that we both made a deal—became the world's best swordsmen._

_ However, it all shattered to shambles the next day. Because we used real swords for that two-thousandth fight, Kuina needed to sharpen her swords because it had dulled when we fought. Because the sharpening stone was downstairs, she went down to get it. But, of course, fate just loved playing around with the innocent. Kuina suffered a fatal fall down the stairs to the basement, and . . . she died._

_ I was frustrated. Angry. Disappointed. If I had only used wooden swords for our two-thousandth fight, this would have never happened. She would have never died, and she would now be the world's greatest swordsman. Though, her father, Koshiro, told me that she wouldn't have either way, and that fate just coils around the innocent, suffocating everybody in its path towards destruction._

_ Because of Kuina's death, I decided to take up on her dream, continue it, and live it. After her funeral, I asked Koshiro for her sword, Wado Ichimonji, which he gave me without a second thought._

_ After that, I stayed with Koshiro a little while longer until I was about sixteen, before leaving to find Dracule 'Hawk-eye' Mihawk, who held and still holds the title of the Greatest Swordsman in the world. While I stayed with Kuina's father, I practiced Santoryū with my own two swords in each hand, and Kuina's clenched between my teeth._

_End of Flashback_

Everyone's eyes were glued to me as I told them the story. The atmosphere was melancholy, as it was still night, dark and gloomy. Everyone was somber, waiting for me to continue the story, but when I didn't, some of my crewmates began commenting on the story.

"That's so sad," Brooke commented dejectedly, tears streaming down his non-existent eyes. "I'm crying tears from my eyes! But, hohoho! I don't have eyes!"

His joke remained non-laughed. Some gave small chuckled, but otherwise remained silent.

Chopper asked hesitantly, "How old was Kuina when she . . . died?"

"Nine," I muttered the words bitterly. It was true. She shouldn't have died over something so small—falling down the stairs to retrieve a stone. Partially, it was my fault for her death. There was no denying that.

Chopper's eyes widened, "She was so young!"

"I know," I replied, biting my lip as I looked the opposite direction.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Nami remarked, arms crossed and brows furrowed in confusion. "The girl in the photograph was like sixteen or something! And, you're like, what? Seventeen in that photo!"

I deadpanned, "That's another girl."

"That would make sense," Nami 'oh-ed.'

In that exact moment, Usopp leaned into Chopper's ear to 'whisper,' "Player . . ."

A twitch mark formed on my forehead, "Oi, oi, I'm not."

Both Chopper and Usopp began snickering uncontrollably.

"Zoro," Robin called my name, legs crossed and one hand holding her chin up as she leaning against the table. "Do tell us the story of the girl in the photograph."

I sighed before saying, "Alright, I guess it's a pretty nice story."

_Flashback_

_ Let's see. I was about twelve when one of Koshiro's friends moved to the area. They were a nice family, from what I could remember._

_The mother was kind, young, and wise. Her warm smile could have brought smiles to where there were none. The father, on the other hand, was calm, stoic, yet clever, cunning, and, in a sense, funny. His satiric jokes through his calm demeanor would be much more hilarious than it should have been._

_Their youngest son, about five years old at the time, was black-haired, adorable, cute, cunning, and unintentionally hilarious. There was this one time when we were utterly lost on our way to an onsen about two cities away, the boy asked for the map and somehow miraculously ended up there. It was weird, since not even I, the mother, father, Koshiro, the girl, and I could even figure out where we were on the map. Let's just say it was crazy._

_Lastly . . . The girl. She had black hair, deep brown eyes, and perfect white teeth. She was clever just like her father, her smile was warm like her mother's, and, unlike her brother, had a good sense of direction, but to the extent where she could read a compass, but never could recall directions previously. Kind of like me, but my sense of direction was and still is much more . . . downhill . . . than hers._

_In any case, her father signed her up to learn at the dojo, and you could say that was how we met._

_This was how it went . . ._

_Roronoa Zoro: Age 12_

_ I looked at the other trainees at the dojo. Most of them were my age, at least, in this class._

_ Moment later, Koshiro entered the room, behind him was a raven-haired girl, who looked just about my age as well._

_ "Good afternoon, class," Koshiro welcomed everyone warmly as always. "Today, we will be having a new student."_

_ He whispered something in the girls ear before she stepped up and told us her basic information, "Hello, everyone. My name is Tamaki Yuki. I am twelve years old. Nice to meet you all."_

_ With that being said, she bowed down, and we all shouted our greetings._

_ I was Koshiro's assistant during classes, since I have long surpassed all my fellow classmates my age and so on. In other words, I helped him with teaching, grade scores, and so forth. I did everything I could to help Koshiro. After all, it was the least I could do after his very own daughter passed away._

_ Koshiro interrupted by addressing the entire class, saying, "Everyone, start on your tiger stance and work your way though to the dragon stance. I need to talk to Zoro for a moment."_

_ As his students began practicing their basic stances, the sensei, hand at the girl's back to guide her to Zoro, walked over to me._

_ "Sir?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. After all, he never asked much from me._

_ "Since Yuki is new here, I don't know her level yet. I think you can easily determine her skill level easily," Koshiro informed me. "I have to continue teaching the students here first, as they are my priority as of now. Go outside to the field, and come back to me once you are done."_

_ I nodded my head in reply before I headed towards the sliding door to outside, motioning for the girl behind me to follow._

_ Once we reached the open, grassy green field, I asked her, "So . . . have you ever done sword-fighting before?"_

_ She didn't seem the type for many words, for she took a while before answering, "Yeah, but not that much."_

_ I sighed, knowing that it would be a long day. With a person who knew literally nothing about the way of the sword, this was . . . definitely . . . going to be a long day._

_ After I tossed her a wooden sword, I flipped my own wooden sword in the air before catching it by the hilt. It revolved in circles until I caught it. Perfect timing._

_ "Okay," I began instructing, though it was kind of awkward, considering the fact that I never taught anyone anything before. "So you hold the hilt in what Koshiro-sensei calls the 'ox grip.'"_

_ Just as I was about to adjust her grip, feeling as if the grip was incorrectly done, I was shocked to see that her clutch on the sword's chipped-varnished hilt was surprisingly accurate._

_ I narrowed my eyes at her very own onyx ones. My gut feeling was that she was hiding her true ability, and, as a swordsman myself, it was deemed wise to do so. Hide your ability, and then lash out at your opponent when he is feeling over-confident._

_ "Do you know the dragon-rabbit stance?" I questioned her a bit too brusquely._

_ However, she remained calm, or, at least, on the outside._

_ She replied in a relaxed manner, "Somewhat. Though, I haven't reviewed sword fighting in quite a while."_

_ I pursed my bottom lip, before instructing, "Alright, how about this. Do you what you know, and I'll correct you if you're wrong."_

_ She nodded her head in comply before wrapping her palm around the wooden hilt in a 'dragon-dragon' clasp. My eyes widened. No one used a grip like that unless . . . unless . . . They knew how to fight. And, it wasn't just any fight. Assassinating. Due to its quick and agile form, it could be used for countless of lethal attacks—both quick and handy._

_ Yuki began displaying what she knew—all the one hundred forty-four grips of each animal and combinations of the animals, a few passable attacks, and a few sloppy, but fixable, stances and slices._

_ As I began teaching her how to fix her stances and so forth, I lost track of time. It was early afternoon, and now it was evening._

_ She had a bead of sweat roll down her innocent face, but that was it. She wasn't tired, too sweaty, or anything of the sort at all._

_ I arched an eyebrow in slight amazement. She was good, and not just any type of good . . . but good . . . good._

_ As she practiced, I began to notice how she mechanically molded her small figure into a quick and agile motion. With a flick of her wrist, she ignited a flickering flame in her eyes—burning with the sense full of passion and focus. Her feet, before slow and wary, were now on edge, swift, and lightweight. She dawned onto me a whole other being of Kuina, for that was whom she reminded me so much. Kuina. My deceased friend who passed away years ago. It was as if her spirit resided within this girl, yet . . . not._

_ "Yuki," I called her name, snapping her out of her focus. The flicker in her eyes diminished, her feet slowed down to a moderate pace, and her abrupt essence of Kuina was now gone._

_ "Yes?" she asked, placing her sword down into pause position._

_ "I think that's enough for today," I told her hesitantly, kind of not wanting her to leave. She was so similar to Kuina. How could I? A presence so familiar only when in a fight . . . "I finished assessing your skills. Sorry it took so long."_

_ She simply nodded her head curtly before tossing me the wooden sword._

_ "Am I dismissed then?" she asked, her voice, not soft like I thought it'd be, but strong and clear._

_ "Of course," I nodded my head in agreement before she left from my very own pair of eyes._

_ "She's sure something," I thought, before gathering the two wooden swords out in the plain field to report to Koshiro._

_End of Flashback_

A moment of silence crept throughout the room as my fellow crewmates waited for me to continue telling the story. However, I was already finished. Done. That was how I met Yuki, and I haven't seen her for . . . a while.

"Really?" I heard someone deadpan—Usopp. "That's how you meet the love of your life? How romantic."

His last sentence dripped with sarcasm.

A twitch mark developed on my forehead. Crossing my arms, I replied bluntly, "I don't love her."

Nami smirked, trailing off, "You don't say . . ."

I narrowed my eyes at her, replying, "Oh, but I _do_ say."

She sighed, "Deep down, you know you love her."

I rolled my eyes at her, grunting, before a certain reindeer asked me as innocent as always, "But can you tell us another story about you and Yuki?"

I gulped down another large gulp of sake before responding after a moment's pause, "I suppose we have enough time. About what?"

Chopper's eyes widened in delight, but just as he was about to answer, a certain captain of the Thousand Sunny decided to ever so conveniently interrupt the poor doctor.

"Ooh! Ooh! Your first kiss!" he shouted loudly.

A twitch mark formed on my forehead before I grunted in reply, "No."

Sanji smiled smugly, asking with a certain cunning edge in his voice, "Ah, so you _have_ kissed?"

My cheeks turned a barely visible blush of coral.

"I never said that!" I yelled to defend my pride.

"Ah, young love," Brooke murmured before turning it into a dreary, sickening love song.

_Ah, love,_

_So young and sweet,_

_Will you stay here forever?_

_Ah, love,_

_So sick and sour,_

_Will you guide me to heaven?_

_Ah, love,_

_So beauty-_

The skeleton was cut mid-sentence as Nami lashed our her anger at man of bones. Her wrath was a force to be reckoned with. No one could lie about that. She got what she wanted. That was that. That was final.

The orange-haired navigator then asked with a smirk plastered across her face, "Do continue, Zoro."

I sighed, knowing that there was eventually no way to beat around the bush for this.

"What do you want to know?" I asked her with a slight hint of hesitance in my voice.

She 'thought ever so desperately' aloud, "Hm . . . I don't know. Robin?"

Robin paused for a moment before 'wisely' answering (for her benefit, to be honest, not mine), "Zoro, why don't you tell us the first time you think you ever . . . _connected_ . . . with Yuki?"

Nami snapped, her face shocked like cemented stone, "How dirty, Robin! _Connected?!"_

Robin replied smoothly, "Nami, no."

The navigator sighed in relief. The archaeologist was never one for such perverted thought . . . _ever_, and if she was, she was factual and on point to the subject . . . She was _definitely_ not the type of person who wanted to pry into others' personal lives, in the least their . . . _night_ life.

"Then what do you mean?" Nami asked with an arched brow, furrowing in confusion.

"It is only when you can connect to a person that you can finally realize your feelings and emotions course through the veins of your body. It's when you realize that that special person is your significant other, and you need that person like you need the blood coursing through your veins," Robin responded with a flawless analogy.

Nami deadpanned, "I never understood how you could take such literal terms and put them into such a deep context."

Robin chuckled lightly, feeling my slight annoyance for the wait and that I wanted to get the storytelling over with . . . kind of.

"Why don't we let Zoro finish his story, eh, Nami?" Robin closed-eye smiled.

The orange-head stirred her margarita, made especially for her by the shitty cook himself, with her metal spoon before sighing a barely audible "yes."

With that being said (or scarcely heard), I began my story.

"For starters, it was a nice memory," I noted aloud, before diving into one of the many chapters of my life.

_Flashback_

_I remember being still about twelve at the time when it was a technical "spring break" for our village. Every child took off for school to admire the cherry blossoms that would bloom endlessly for that particular week. Since the village elders wanted to keep the tradition of staying home with family for the holidays, Koshiro let all his students out on break for that week. It was one of the happiest times of the year._

_ Since we never did much traveling or relaxing, Koshiro and I decided to go to an onsen in a nearby town. He invited Yuki's family to go along with us as well, since he wanted to catch up with their family._

_ So, the week before the holidays, we began packing up for our sole week of relaxation for a literal lifetime._

_ It was during one of the days before the break that Koshiro told me to get to know the Tamaki children well, if not more, but especially Yuki, since she was about my age._

_ Upon him telling me this, I shrugged, seeing the assignment as pretty easy to pull off. She was a girl, and all girls loved to talk. Nonstop. Literally. In the girl's kendo classes at the dojo, all the girls talked and talked and talked and talked and talked forever and ever and ever and ever and . . . you get the point._

_ In any case, a few days later, the Tamakis came over to the dojo early . . . as in before the crack of dawn early, on the first day of break. Each person in the family was carrying a small, but enough for a week, pack of belongings for the trip. Meanwhile, Koshiro was carrying literally nothing, as I had offered to carry both of our packs as part of my strength training. Besides, Koshiro was getting old, so it was both a win-win situation._

_ As we trekked our way up to the neighboring village, which lied on the other side of the mountain, Koshiro and Yuki's parents were talking about the latest uprising in the rebels against the Marines. Yuki and her five-year old brother, Takao, were walking ahead of me, as I was trailing last, to ensure, that if any bandits attacked us from behind, I would be able to protect both Koshiro and the Tamakis._

_ Remembering that Koshiro wanted me to talk to Yuki and get to know, not only her, but her brother as well, I jogged up beside them to start a conversation. Though I must admit that it was literally a failed attempt._

_ "So, hey, what's up?" I asked, a bit on the nervous side of the spectrum._

_ She replied, her face neither smiling nor sad—just straight, "Nothing much. Walking."_

_ I did a one-eighty degree view around me before asking another question, "The sky is pretty today, huh?"_

_ She wrinkled her nose to prevent an upcoming sneeze, though failed. After she sneezed, she responded bluntly, "Excuse me. White, fluffy clouds. Yeah, it's pretty."_

_ "Do you think it'll rain while we're at the onsen?" I asked her yet another question to try to continue a conversation._

_ Yuki simply shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think so. The only fluffy clouds are west of us. Our village is North, and the village we're going to as of now is South. The direction of the winds, as of now, are flowing east to west. So, yeah, no."_

_ I smiled mentally as she began speaking little by little more and more by each question I asked. She was warming up to me, which, I thought, I was a good thing._

_ I then turned my attention to Takao, her younger brother. Patting his back once roughly on the gentle side, I asked him, "Do you practice swordsmanship, Takao?"_

_ The young face of a boy looked innocently at me—his voice smooth, young, and clear, "Yeah, Yuki teaches me. She's really good. She won second against big kids at our local dojo last year. She teaches me everything."_

_ Yuki stiffened._

_ My eyes widened at the news. Yuki? Dojo? Winning? Wait. What?_

_ "You never told me you won second in a dojo tournament," I arched an eyebrow at the stiff girl. "That piece of information could have made my assessment for you much easier."_

_ She rubbed the tip of her nose with her pointer finger, "You never asked."_

_ "Well, it wouldn't hurt," I deadpanned. "Time is of the essence."_

_ "And the essence of time is intangibly surreal," she countered._

_ "That made no sense," I deadpanned once again. "You literally just said that the essence of time was not touchable and not real. How does that relate to what I just said."_

_ Her stare bore right through me, as if hinting that I was the most idiotic guy on earth._

_ "What's wrong?" I asked her._

_ "Time is only of the essence when you want it to be," she changed her choice of words. "If you want to waste your time, you waste it. If you choose to use it wisely, then so be it. Everything on this earth has a reason and purpose. If I didn't find any need to reveal that piece of information, then you'll just have to adapt to it. That's what we humans are. Adapters."_

_ I sighed, "You act like a professor."_

_ She chuckled, which surprised me. Her laughter was like melodious bells chiming for rejoice. It was beautiful._

_ My cheeks flushed. I shouldn't be thinking of those things._

_ "You're funny," she told me straightforwardly._

_ I raised an eyebrow, "No one's ever called me that before."_

_ She chuckled once again, "Get used to it."_

_ We were lost. There was no way around it. Koshiro couldn't figure out where we were on the map. Our compass broke when he tried cleaning it in the river. He tried wiping the surface of the contraption against a river's waters, but, of course, everything had to go awry. Moments after he finished cleaning the surface of the compass, a forceful current in the river knocked him over, breaking the compass in the process._

_ Using what I remembered from textbooks in navigation, I tried using the sun and moon for directions, but, we didn't know where we were. Lost. Dark clouds everywhere. We were done fore. And it was cold. Tiring. And tedious. We were out of breath._

_ Yuki's parents tried navigating us out to of no avail. Rather than helping us get out of the mess we were in, we were caught up in the tangles even more and more._

_ "Can I try?" Takao asked innocently as always. He was still holding Yuki's pinky, as if she was his lifeline, which I could see why, for, once you broke her outer shell, she was kind, caring, sweet, and even ferocious if she had to. She was almost like bamboo, adaptable to almost all environments. She was quick and clever and knew how to get out of any situation . . . except this._

_ "There's no clouds or sun or moon to even have any points of navigation. I know that moss grows mainly North or South, not East or West. Tree branches grow mainly on the South side, but neither of these options work since they're so inaccurate. Wind could blow moss aside. Other natural elements can play a factor in this option," Yuko sighed in defeat._

_ I saw Takao tug Yuki's thin coat while he still held her pinky. His stuffed teddy bear was wrapped in his other arm. Even though I wanted to be a tough guy when I was older, there was no denying that Takao was adorably cute and innocent._

_ "Nee-san," he asked once again. "Can I please try?"_

_ His pouty face was impossible to deny._

_ She crouched down to his height before handing him her spare map from her small satchel._

_ "Here you go," she smiled at him before turning to the adults in the group. "Mother, Father, Koshiro . . . Let's go."_

_ "Where?" her mother asked her. "Do you know where to go?"_

_ "No, but there's no point in standing still. It's still early spring, and the nights will still be cold," Yuki sighed. "Takao thinks he can navigate to the town. Besides, if we get lost again, we're still lost. It's kind of like dwelling in spilled milk. Use it if you still have any purpose for it, but it's still spilled milk."_

_ The adults looked warily at each other before relenting, following their children. They were lost. There was no denying that. Besides, what if they miraculously stumbled upon a road or such along the way. There was no way in telling, but it was a chance—even if it was very slim._

_Five hours later . . . For a trip that should have taken Twenty-Four hours . . ._

_ The three adults and two (almost) teenagers stood before the onsen town, mouths gaping wide enough for flies to come and enter and exit still alive. Somehow, miraculously, Takao had managed to get them to their destination far beyond their expected time to arrive. His sense of direction was unanimously accurate._

_ "Say what," I heard Yuki mutter under her breath._

_ "Is this the right place?" Takao asked innocently._

_ Koshiro was the first to snap out of his shock, for he replied almost immediately, "Y-yes, in-indeed."_

_ "Yay!" he shouted softly in joy. Yawning, he tugged the edge of his sister's coat before she crouched down to his height. "A-are you proud of me?"_

_ She smiled at him gently, yet proudly, "I definitely am."_

_ Yuki picked up her younger brother in her arms before rocking him to a slumber._

_ "Mother, Father," she called her parents. "We should probably get going to the inn."_

_ The adults agreed, before leading Yuki and me to the vacation inn we'd be staying for a week._

_End of Flashback_

I yawned.

"That's it?" Nami asked disappointedly.

"Yup," I chuckled. "Takao was such the adorable toddler."

"I thought that five-year olds weren't considered toddlers," Franky remarked at my stupid mistake.

"Whatever," I yawned once again. "To answer Nami's question, no there's more, but I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. I'll finish the story tomorrow. G'night, everyone."

With that being said, I snatched my earring off the table and rushed outside back to the men's sleeping quarters for bed.


	4. Chapter Three: Before We Realized

**Chapter Three**

**Before We Realized**

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

A sudden boom of thunder awoke me instantly. A few bolts of lighting zapped thereafter, before another few booms of thunder resounded in the seas of the New World. I sat up, rubbing my eyes wide open before stealthily standing up to go to the Crow's Nest to resume my training. I glanced at the clock in the men's dorm before rushing down the various hallways and into Crow's Nest. It was 4:49 in the morning, and it was still dark and gloomy, and the heavens booming and zapping lightning bolts everywhere only _helped_ with the latter.

Once I reached the nest, I began stretching for about ten minutes before selecting one of the weights from the shelves and then began lifting a weight within the hundred pounds section.

I closed my eyes as my arms strained the weight of several hundred pounds. Lightning and thunder thrashed about outside with no steady rhythm as the flares of electricity began illuminating the roaring dark navy tidal waves across the oceans. I opened my eyes to take another glimpse of the stunning scenery.

If you were intimidated by the crashing waves, you would find the Grand Line and the New World a lethal and threatening place, but, if you looked deeper into the picture and observed every little detail of nature and its inhabitants, you would find that the chirps of the South birds were awing and melodious. You would find the stormy seas, not intimidating, but rather enlightening. The flashes of lightning that reflected on its surroundings was a sight to behold and literally breathtaking. The many icy and snowy slopes of the Grand Line mountain ranges were difficult and dreary, but, once you reached the summit, the zenith kept the secret view of the sunset horizon a whole treasure of its own.

After an hour of staring at the stormy seas and lifting the several hundred-pounded weight, I set the weights down and took out one of the heavier sets to practice with.

Another few hours passed before Franky climbed up the ladder to the Crow's Nest to tell me that brunch would be served. I took a towel and wiped the sweat off my creased brows before setting the set of weights away in their proper shelves.

Rushing down the ladder and into the kitchen, I heard the usual chatter in the room. Nami was still scolding Luffy like she always did over petty little things. The ero-cook was cooking silently to perfection. Brooke was rubbing rosin on his violin bow, while Usopp and Chopper were chatting away. Franky was holding out the chair for Robin to sit in as courteously as always. It was the usual thing and string of evens in the Straw Hat Crew, and I was kind of glad it was still the same.

"Eh, Nami," I called out the navigator's name. "When are we landing?"

Nami halted beating the crap out of her captain for having no table manners (hypocrite, in my opinion. She was beating up her captain at the dining table) before thinking deeply for a moment, as if she forgot when they would be landing.

"Oh, yeah," Nami replied, reverting her gaze from the captain. "We'll be landing this noon or afternoon. Somewhere about that time."

She then dropped the captain from her grasp, and the raven-haired boy slammed face-first onto the floor. The orange-haired girl then smirked and crossed her legs under the table with _that_ very smirk plastered across her face.

"Say, Zoro," she smiled smugly. "Why don't you finish telling everyone the story over breakfast before we get to the island and all. Besides, it's raining so there's not much to do right now, eh, Zoro?"

I sighed before sitting down across the orange-haired girl. By this point in time, everyone was situated around the dining table aside the blonde cook, who was finishing cooking the stew.

"Brunch will almost be served, so, Zoro, get on with the story already," Sanji ushered his rival. "If we're going to finish the flipping story before we get to the island, but, then again, it's going to take forever, considering the fact that you're such a blabbermouth."

I grunted, a twitch mark forming on my forehead before I glared at the shitty cook, "Says the man who just ranted."

The cook grunted a 'tch,' before waving the latter off with his hand.

"Zoro, the story?" Chopper asked, eyes brimmed with excitement and piqued with interest.

"Alright, alright," I crossed my arms, sitting with good posture before diving into the story.

_Flashback_

_ It wasn't long ago for this final story about Yuki and me. This story's about before I left on my journey to become the greatest swordsman, actually. I was training at the dojo, as usual, and Yuki was there, and, at that point in time, she was my equal. We were the same level of sword mastery, though, in some areas, one of us was better than the other. She was quicker and more agile, while I was stronger and stealthier with my use of strokes. Either way, whenever we battled one another, we had a good time improving our weaknesses and strengthening our strengths. No doubt about it, those years with Yuki were the best years of my life. No one, absolutely no one, could deny that._

_ However, that all changed one day. Koshiro, my sensei and figurative father, encouraged me to begin my journey to become the greatest swordsman before I became too old, and it would be too late. On the outside, I was smiling that he encouraged me so much as to fulfill his deceased daughter's dream. However, on the inside, I was distraught. I spent the last couple of years with Yuki, and, all of a sudden, I would be leaving . . . in a blink of an eye. Truth be told, we were close friends, and we confided within each other everything. Absolutely everything. I would be leaving, though. Soon. Too soon for my taste. Too soon . . ._

_At the dojo_

_ "Zoro!" I heard an ever so familiar voice call my name._

_ I turned around and smiled at her, "Hey, Yuki."_

_ "Hey, Zoro," she smiled at me. "Ready to help train the level ones?"_

_ I grunted, "I don't think I have a choice in the matter, Yuki."_

_ She chuckled, "How blunt."_

_ I ripped my gaze off her for a moment, before returning my gaze to her. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't bring myself to say, well, anything._

_ She tilted her head before asking worriedly, "What's wrong, Zoro?"_

_ I tried to speak the words I wanted to tell her, but to no avail._

_ Instead, the only words that flowed out softly . . . were . . . "Nothing, Yuki . . . Nothing's wrong."_

_A few days later . . ._

_ I packed up everything I needed for my while trip into a small, convenient backpack. I took some money with me as well, just in case. Over the course of the past few days, I couldn't bring myself to tell Yuki that I was leaving, and I made Koshiro promise me that he wouldn't tell Yuki . . . in the least, not yet. It was now the crack of dawn, and I would be leaving today. Right now. I drew in a quick breath before ripping out a piece of paper from one of my drawers and scribbling a note to Yuki, telling her that I was leaving today. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I would be gone. I couldn't bring myself to tear myself apart from her so . . . cruelly. I just couldn't. So, in the worst way possible, this would be how I parted from her. My best friend._

_Dear Yuki,_

_I had to leave to become the greatest swordsman before it would be too late. I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I'm sorry. I know what you're thinking. I'm the worst friend ever, and I know. I'm sorry. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you the other day. I'm the worst._

_I'll be back one day, that's for sure. By the time I return to the village, I'll be the world's greatest swordsman. I promise you that._

_Zoro_

_End of Flashback_

Everyone's stare was on me, as, outside, the stormy weather had died down to a minimal silence.

Nami slammed her fists on the wooden dining table, "What?! That's how you leave the love of your life! You're such a _pathetic,_ _little_ _. . . person!"_

The orange-headed girl spat out the word 'person' as if it were the most excruciating insult in the world.

"Sorry," I grunted as I swallowed another spoonful of stew that was set on the table during my storytelling.

Usopp agreed with Nami, "When I left Kaya, I at least _told_ her I would be leaving in person."

Chopper nodded his head in accord, "Yeah, Zoro. You're so not romantic."

The skeleton in the room 'cried' a pool of tears before taking out his violin and playing a depressing song.

"Oi, oi," I grunted in annoyance. "Yuki's understanding. I don't think she was all that worked up about the matter as you guys here."

The crew exchanged glances with one another, before Sanji muttered under his breath, "You thought."

"I see land!" I shouted into the loudspeaker from the Crow's Nest as everyone inside the kitchen or their respective dormitories began rushing out onto the deck.

Nami then commanded everyone where to go and what to do, "Franky gear to starboard!"

I looked through the scope before noticing another pirate ship. I zoomed in to find that the people on the ship were preparing the shoot the canons directly at our ship.

"Enemy ship incoming at four o'clock," I shouted once again into the loudspeaker. "They're preparing to fire canons at the Sunny!"

"What!" I heard Nami shout in contrast.

"Yay! I good fight!" I then heard the captain shout in glee.

I deadpanned, "Oh great. Here we go again."

As we were aiming our own bombs at the enemy, the enemy began firing at us simultaneously. There was a constant crash of lightning and thunder about the seas, and the canons from both configurative sides only _added_ to the matter.

Canons were thrown everywhere. They were barely deflected by Luffy's rubber fruit ability, Sanji's diablo kicks, and my sword cutting, and Robin's net of hands. Franky and Nami were attempting to steer away from the enemy ship and back to the nearby island only a mere miles away. Meanwhile, Brooke was assisting Chopper in creating several potions just in case any one of us defenders of the Thousand Sunny became injured with this and that. Usopp, you may wonder, was down on the base floor of the Sunny, preparing and aiming canons at the enemy pirate ship.

"Why are they attacking us?" Nami asked, completely distraught, as she directed Franky where to steer.

"I don't know!" I heard Franky shout back at her, even though he was standing right next to her. The canons shot at us were too much and too harsh. There were too many risks at hand and way too many canons everywhere that it seemed like they were falling like rain.

"Nami!" we all halted our attacks to hear the Captain speak. Luffy was more serious as of now, seeing as the time was slightly more desperate. "Get to the island quickly."

Somehow, the orange-headed navigator ended up by the Captain's side in a flash, smacking his face first onto the floor.

"That's what we're doing, idiot!" she deadpanned, smacking her fist against her face. "Franky! Eighty-eight degrees west, thanks!"

The cyan-head deadpanned as well before doing as he was told.

As we fled the scene, I looked back behind the Sunny at the enemy pirate ship. We were beyond the reach of the canons at this point in time, and we were too far to shoot at them either, unless, of course, you wanted Sanji or Luffy to flip some bombs at them, no problem.

Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a glint aimed for the enemy ship, and, moments later, the ship began to sink. My eyes widened. What? Did we aim some of our canons at them? I thought Usopp was currently on deck.

I glanced back at the rest of the crew to see some of them arching their eyebrows. The look plastered across their faces were mainly of confusion.

If we didn't sink the ship, then who did?

"Gosh was that close!" Nami sighed, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her wrist, leaning against the steering wheel of the Thousand Sunny. "Funny how the weather, only a few miles away, can change so drastically in the New World. I mean, over there where we were just moments ago is practically pouring rain, and over here is literally dry and sunny and stuff."

Usopp smacked the palm of his hand against his cheek, dragging the flesh down slightly, before saying, "I couldn't agree more."

Sanji took out his lighter and lit the tip of his cigarette, "Say, what, or who, sank the pirate ship attacking us earlier? Usopp, you didn't do that, did you?"

The Pinocchio arched an eyebrow before replying truthfully, "No, I do believe that I was present on deck."

The blonde cook leaned in closer to the long-nosed guy, glaring at him, as if to determine whether or not he was lying. Sanji then "unreeled" himself away from his "bait" before releasing the puff of smoke trapped in his lungs.

"Okay, you're not lying," the blonde stated bluntly before Usopp went on a 'rampage.'

"Of course I'm not lying, you idiot! Why would I be?" Usopp 'rampaged.'

He 'coughed,' "Um, you lie all the time with your tall tales?"

Usopp deadpanned, "That. Was. Two. Years. Ago."

It finally dawned on the blonde that the tall-tales era was two years ago. "Oh . . . . I totally forgot about that."

Usopp anime fell before fainting.

"Ah! You made Usopp die!" Chopper chided the blonde.

"Tch," the blonde grunted before finally simmering down.

"Say, is it safe to land here?" Nami asked the crew nervously as she stared down at the island down below from the edge of the deck.

"Why would you ask that?" Sanji raised an eyebrow, gradually becoming more and more worried by each and every second that passed by.

The orange-headed navigator began fumbling with her words, "Th-there's . . . a-a . . . bunch of i-i-islanders . . . wh-who l-look pre-pretty angry r-right now."

The rest of the crew and I began warily reaching the edge of the deck. Below on land were what seemed like thousands upon thousands of soldiers, aiming arrows, spears, and weapons at us as if we were trespassers. But, then again, we technically were. The crew and I docked the Thousand Sunny on uncharted land of the New World. This was what we kind of deserved, plus the fact that we were pirates . . . and that only added to the matter.

Luffy stared at the tribal-dressed islanders with a blank expression. He tilted the rim over his eyes, shadowing it from view. Luffy then stated loud and clear, "Do you need something?"

There was such an edge in the Captain's voice that sent shivers down everyone's spines. However, the islanders, though slightly taken aback, remained firm for reasons unknown.

"Leave this island at once," a person dressed with a fancier mask from the rest of the islanders spoke sternly. "You are not welcome here."

Luffy paused for a moment to let that statement sink in before replying, "And why is that?"

The chief stomped his long wooden staff against the earth. Everything behind him rustled about. The leaves were drained from the trees in a whirling tornado. Pebbles rose into the air. Some of the trees even fell down against one another like dominoes. The islanders were, however, barely fazed by the act. They stood like stone cemented to the ground. They were firm. Strong. Cunning. There was no doubt about it.

Nami scurried to Luffy's side, tugging at his shirt, whispering to him, "Oi, oi, Luffy. We should leave. I don't think we want to cause any trouble.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a few islanders scuttling away from the crowd mass. They carried a small sack.

"It must be nothing," I thought.

"Why should we leave though, Nami?" I heard Luffy mutter in reply to the navigator of the ship.

"Luffy, logic!" Nami whispered a shout. "Just _go. _We have other things to worry about, like_ not_ risking our lives before we even _reach_ the edge of the New World?!"

The raven-haired boy sighed before complying with the navigator. She was right. It wasn't something worth fighting for.

"Let's move out," Nami shouted to everyone as each and every crewmember began taking his or her places.

Franky took command of the wheel, while Nami instructed him where to go. Sanji, deeming that the situation was already in control, returned to the kitchen to do whatever he wanted to do—cook, relax, or so forth. Robin sat on the ledge coiled around one of the mast posts to read in peace as we set sail onward to the next island. Luffy, as usual, was sitting on the lion masthead, gleefully setting forth.

To lighten the mood, Brooke began playing sweet, melodious melodies on his violin, signaling the bittersweet of not being able to explore the tribal island (according to Luffy's request . . . to play the song and all). Usopp returned below deck to continue working on whatever contraption he was inventing next. Innovative man, he is.

After I personally deemed the situation in control as well, I returned to the Crow's nest to not only further strengthen my abilities and keep on lookout in case anything bad was to happen on the seas before us.

**Third Person Point of View**

Three men dressed in simple loincloths and adorned with various colors of paints on their faces tossed a dirty, beige potato sack onto the floor, exhausted.

"Kami, that took forever," one of them panted. "At least we have meat for the night now."

Breathing heavily, another one of the bunch added, "Indeed, but I've never seen an animal like him. Squirming like an idiot. If it weren't for the hemlock you administered to the wretched creature, you know, I don't think we could have ever captured him. Bah!"

"I know . . ." the other trailed off. "The bunch of pirates earlier looked pretty . . . out of range. Some of them looked like freaks, others like mere _children_, and others as strong as boulders. Can't believe we got . . . hm . . . what would you call it? Their mascot?"

The other two laughed jovially, before one of them teased, "What would you call a creature like that? A reindeer?"

One of them guffawed, "I thought you'd call it . . . what now? A moose?"

One of them responded, "Bah! There's some tale in the West, saying that there's a legend about an old fat man who had seven reindeer or something and gave gifts to all the children in the world on some contraption called a 'sleigh.'"

All of them guffawed endlessly.

"What? That's hilarious!"

"I know right?"

"Idiots. Hahaha!"

_Creek._

Pause.

_Creek._

Pause.

_Creek._

A silence crept throughout the room. The three men looked at each other wide-eyed.

"What was that?" one asked warily.

_Creek_.

"S-stop c-creeping me o-out, you guys," another one stuttered, utterly afraid.

_Creek._

"Wh-what's going on?"

_Creek._

The three men involuntarily huddled closer together, as if it would shield themselves from whatever was to come.

_Thud._

"What was tha-" the man who uttered those words was thrown against the wall and landed to the ground with a 'thud.'

The other two men stared wide-eyed at the trespasser as the he knocked them out as well.

A series of screams were heard from them and it awoke the other villagers, but, either way, by the time they came, it would be too late. The three would have already been 'dead.'

The invader scanned the room with his eyes for a moment before noticing the ragged potato sack. He took it and tossed it behind his back before, somehow . . . disappear in a puff of smoke.

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

I sat down and took a small break from the intense pull-ups I was previously doing. Snatching a dirtied, ash-white towel from the spot next to me on the bench, I began wiping my face from all the sweat from the workload. I gave myself a small grin before taking a water bottle situated by my feet and gurgling almost half of it down. That must have been my fifth one, or, by now, fifth and a half(ish).

Moments later into my break, Usopp popped his head into the Crow's Nest from the ladder and told me, "It's almost time for dinner."

I simply grunted and nodded my head before wiping all my sweat and hurrying down to the men's dormitory to take a quick shower. These past few weeks, I've been training far more than I usually had, so, just once, I'd take a shower two times a week. This was _sure_ to please Nami, for she always hated my stench at the dinner table.

After showering quickly, but efficiently, I barely began putting my clothes on as I hurried down to the kitchen. I was hungry, and that was simply put.

I slammed the kitchen door open before closing it swiftly and crashing down in my seat.

"Wow, someone's hungry," Luffy teased, poking my cheeks.

A twitch mark appeared on my forehead before I snapped, "Oi! Stop that, Luffy!"

"Say, where's Usopp and Chopper?" Robin asked with an arched eyebrow.

Nami sighed in reply, "Usopp went to go get him from his office, or wherever he might be."

"Ah, I see," Robin responded with a slight accented exhale.

After a few more minutes, Franky muttered, "Sure is taking long, huh?"

"Yeah," Brooke sighed, though he technically didn't even have lungs or vocal chords. "Sure is . . ."

Another wave of silence crashed into the room for another few minutes.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

Luffy slammed his fist on the table in frustration (he just wanted to eat), shouting, "Why on earth is Usopp taking so long?!"

As if on cue, Usopp peeked through the kitchen door, his body halfway visible from the door ledges.

He informed us with a slight pant, "I can't find Chopper anywhere."

**Tony Tony Chopper's Point of View**

A blur crossed my eyes as I attempted to open them. I closed my eyes due to the sudden intrusion of dizziness, and instead took a whiff of the aroma around me. It smelled of sakura flowers, to be honest, and it was wonderful.

I tried opening my eyes once again before I took in all my surroundings. I was in a quite small, confined space. It had a nice edge to it though. It was somewhat a small, wooden hut or cabin.

"I see you're awake now," I heard a strong, clear feminine voice once I sat up on the soft bed.

I turned around to see a young woman, smiling, with sleek black hair, slim figure, and toned body. In her hands was a tray filled with a bowl of steaming soup, a glass of water, utensils, and some pills.

She set the tray on the table beside the bed before kneeling down beside me.

"How are you?" she smiled warmly at me. Her eyes twinkling with concern.

"I'm good," I replied as I scratched the nape of my neck. "Um, what happened? I just remembered being drugged by . . . by . . . Oh, Kami! Where's the rest of my crew!"

The girl before me simply laughed, "They left without you."

"Whaaa!" My eye popped out of my sockets. "They left me?!"

The girl nodded her head in a light daze, replying, "Pretty much."

I crashed down against the bed once again before tears became streaming down my face. Was I really that useless? Was I really that weak? Was that why they didn't want me anymore?

Yeah, the islanders here are pretty rough," she told me hesitantly as she took the bowl of soup from the tray. "Here, I'll feed you the soup. You'll feel a lot better after you eat it all up. Sit up."

"Thank you," I said to her as I sat up.

She smiled as she fed me before asking, "What's your name?"

"Ah!" I slapped my cheek, aghast at my informalities. "My name is Chopper. Tony Tony Chopper. Very nice to meet you."

I extended my hoof for her to shake, which she did.

"What's_ your_ name?" I asked her in return.

"Confidential," she smiled with a slight edge of amity in her voice.

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

"What do you mean he's gone?" I slammed my fists on the table.

At this point in time, everyone was standing up, alarmed as ever.

Usopp then fully entered the kitchen, closing the door behind him, saying, "Yeah, he's not in his office, the dormitories, hallways, Crow's Nest, deck . . . or _anywhere._"

"Then where could he be?" Nami asked, arms crossed in full concern.

"He didn't get off at the island . . . did he?" Brooke egged on, trailing off ominously.

A sudden wave of realization crashed against my mind. The sack. The few islanders. Don't tell me . . .

"Crap," I cursed, catching the attention of my fellow teammates. "I saw a few islanders carrying a beige sack in the direction away from our ship during our encounter with the islanders. If anything, I'm pretty sure they took him."

"Argh, Zoro!" Nami went super-saiyan. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?!"

I developed a twitch mark on my forehead, "I thought everyone was onboard, but I guess I was wrong."

"_Guess_ you were wrong?" Nami shouted. "You were _totally_ wrong, baka!"

I deadpanned with sarcasm in my voice, "Well sorry for not alleviating the situation."

"So . . . guys . . . what's the plan of action?" Usopp asked us, a little flustered by the sudden escalation of the situation.

We all looked at each other before staring at Luffy.

A drumstick in his mouth, Luffy stared back at us, asking, "What?"

Literally, we then fainted.

**Tony Tony Chopper's Point of View**

Confidential? I didn't even get to know the name of the person who nursed me back to health in (at least what I believe) was only a few hours?

I finished the soup thereafter by myself as the girl began preparing some medicine to fully heal me.

"Anti-hemlock," I heard her mutter. "Parsnip, Marring Salts . . ."

She began stirring the ingredients into a steaming pot. I saw her add some rosemary into the mixture so that the smell and taste could be more bearable. Clever.

She then drained the impurities within the liquid before pouring it into a cup, before handing it to me.

"Drink up and you'll be as good as new," she smiled.

"Thanks," I smiled back at her before chugging down the slightly-alleviated bad tasting liquid and handing it back to her.

She took all the dirty dishware and went outside to wash them presumably by the water pump.

I then snuggled back under the covers of the bed. The fire was cackling in the fireplace in a stead melody. The stars outside in the dark blanket cast overhead dangled from the skies like silver and gold pearls.

But even all that didn't hide the fact that my teammates forgot about me and left. A part of my mind told me that the other tribal islanders probably drove them off, but they took on Sky Island. They're the ones that have stormed countless of Marines. Luffy's the one who possessed Haki. We were dominant over the bad guys in the underwater battles. Yet . . . they didn't even bother to save . . . mere . . . me?

Right then, the girl stormed through the cabin, grabbed the meager supplies spread throughout the cabin and packed them messily into her small backpack. She sleeked her black hair into a high ponytail before opening the latch down to the small compartment to the smallest cellar. Inside was an object bundled with several layers of cloth. It was relatively small. She set it on the counter before ripping out a piece of paper from her backpack. She took out a pen from her pocket and then began scribbling on the piece of paper before tucking it under some of the folds of the wrapped package. She then set her backpack on her shoulders before kneeling down beside the bed.

"The islanders have caught on to both you and me," the words gushed out of her mouth.

"What? How?" I asked innocently as she then stood up and took my backpack out of the cupboard.

"Here's your pack," she gave it to me before adding a vial of the medicine she previously administered to me earlier in the backpack.

"Thanks," I smiled at her, un-tucking myself from the covers and out of the bed, feeling much better than earlier.

"It's still dark outside," she rushed, handing me a small blanket out of her backpack. "So you'll be able to escape easily. I've heard you ate a devil fruit that gave you some human characteristics. I know you can defend for yourself, right?"

She began buttoning my shirt for me since it was pretty chilly outside.

Hesitantly, she added while buttoning my shirt for me, "I . . . have something for a certain member of your crew. It's the swordsman."

I interrupted her train of words, "You mean Zoro?"

She reluctantly nodded her head, replying, "Y-yeah, him. Could you give him this package for me?"

The girl grabbed the package quickly but delicately with care, "It's fragile, so be careful. I'm sorry to impose, but the islanders are coming, and let's just say that they're pretty angry and all. You should hurry to the docks just South of here before they find you. I saw a ship that had a lion-sun kind of figurehead. I think that's your crew, right? There we go. The buttons of yours were a little of a hassle, but that's done. Now, go, before they discover that you and I aren't here."

She ushered me out of the rusty cabin as she grabbed a bow and arrows out from the closet as well as a katana. The girl strapped the katana around her back, the bag of arrows upon the opposite shoulder, and the bow in her hand.

"So long, Chopper," she gave me a nervous smile before heading off North toward mountainous territory. South was a wooded and cliffy area, but at least my friends would be coming. But what about the mysterious girl? Where was she headed? Did she have any comrades?

As those thoughts raced through my mind, I said aloud softly, "Goodbye . . ."

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

"I _can't _believe our very own _genius_ captain forgot that one of his crewmates was missing," Nami ranted. "And he then proceeded to no even think of a _plan_ and flipping _eat_ instead. Like, who does he think he is?"

"Um, he thinks he's going to be Pirate King?" Usopp poked his head into the conversation. "I'm pretty sure that's still his goal."

"Yessiree!" we heard Luffy's agreement in the matter. "To be Pirate King is still my goal!"

"Wow," Nami deadpanned. "Why am I not surprised."

I chuckled at her response to the latter before noticing that land was ahead.

"Erm, Nami, land right in front of us," I nudged her.

"Oh, yeah," the navigator noted aloud. "Forgot about that."

I sweat-dropped at her reply.

"Ohoho!" Brooke's voice echoed in the air. "Is that our favorite little reindeer I see by the cliffs?"

"Oh, Kami, it is," Robin added monotonously, breaking her stare from her book to the thought to be long lost reindeer.

"Thank goodness he's alright," Franky added, leaning against the frame of the kitchen door.

"I couldn't agree more," Sanji smiled.

Once we docked by the cliff, Luffy extended his arm (literally) to Chopper before snatching him from the cliff in a snap of the wrist.

"Sorry about that, Chopper," Luffy scratched the back of his head. "WE may or may not have forgotten about you, hahaha. Don't worry though. I made a plan to come back with no problems whatsoever."

Nami whacked her captain on the back of his head, knocking him out entirely as Usopp followed her orders of dragging him out of the scene.

Nami graciously added, "Oh, yeah, Chopper. It was, in fact, Chopper. It was, in fact, _my_ idea to get you back, and if only flipping _Zoro_ had told us sooner that you were missing . . ."

I raised my hands up in defense, "Hey, I didn't know that Chopper was the one in the sack . . . in my defense."

Chopper nudged the back of his head in accord, "It's fine, hahaha."

"Then let's get sailing!" Luffy jumped up to the top of the mast posts before giving orders. "Sanji, cook us up a feast!"

"Aye, aye, Captain," the blonde replied sarcastically. "On it."

"Things are going to go back to normal, aren't they?" Usopp sighed, hands folded under his chin.

"Pretty much, my friend," Nami patted his back amicably. "Pretty much."

"Yes!" Luffy shouted, fist in the air. "Finally! Food!"

Sanji chuckled at his captain's behavior before saying, "Dig in, everyone."

With that being said, everyone began piling bits of every dish onto their plates.

"Omf," Luffy talked with his mouth full. "Dish shuffle base food."

"Wait, what?" Nami arched an eyebrow, looking at him a bit disgustedly. "And what did I say about talking with your mouth full."

"Sorry, ma'am," Luffy hung his head low.

Chopper suddenly gasped as if to remember something before rushing out the kitchen door to race off somewhere.

"Where's _he_ going?" Sanji raised an eyebrow.

As if on cue, Chopper returned to the kitchen with a bundle in his hands (hoofs, technically speaking).

"What's that?" Luffy raised an eyebrow.

"The person who saved me gave it to me," Chopper told everyone. "She told me to give this package to you . . . Zoro."

I arched an eyebrow, "Me?"

Chopper handed me the bundle as everyone's eyes trailed the package.

I held the package in my hands—hesitant to open it. What was in it? It was from a stranger, so was it even worth opening?

"What are you waiting for?" Sanji released the puff of smoke in my lungs before patting my back. "Open it."

I grunted, "Tch, alright. Whatever."

I began unwrapping the cloth around the package. Cloth by cloth, I began unwrapping the package like a present, like a small child. Like the good old days.

Moments later, I was done unwrapping and inside the package lay a dagger, but not just any dagger. . . . _Yuki's_ . . . dagger.

My gaze slowly turned from the dagger to Chopper. The expression plastered across my face was not that of joy and shock, but rather that of rage and hurt. She had the nerve to stick around for Chopper, but didn't stay with him and return to me to give it to me herself?

"Where did you get this?" I questioned him with a slight edge of anger in my voice. "This is something-"

"Zoro, what is it?" Chopper interrupted me innocently before his hoof passed by the note wrapped among the folds of the cloth. "There's a note there too, by the way."

I snatched the note from his hands before my eyes zipped through the words on the parchment. Anger boiled inside of me before I slammed my fist on the table and rammed the kitchen the door, not even bothering closing it back. I didn't even bother taking another look at the note. I just took the dagger with me. What was the point of it, I didn't even know. I was a swords master, not a knife man. What were they thinking?

**Third Person's Point of View**

"Wow," Sanji muttered. "Anger issues."

"What does the piece of paper say, Chopper?" Luffy asked curiously as always.

"Is it right for us to read what was meant for Zoro?" Robin put her input into the conversation.

"I don't know . . ." Chopper replied hesitantly.

"Well, why not!" Luffy smiled, snatching the parchment paper out of Chopper's hands before reading it aloud. "Hello Zoro. Just for your travels. Koshiro asked me to give it to you on my way to Oshaniwa. Have fun. Yuki."

"Okay, that was plain out lame," Nami sighed, stirring her drink with a straw. "I expected her to say something epic and romantic. Ugh. But then again, Zoro is _so_ not romantic."

"I second that," Franky chuckled.

With that being said, the rest of the crew finished eating and went to bed. It was a tiring day, so a night's rest was worth it for all of them.

**Roronoa Zoro's Point of View**

I couldn't sleep. Thought were racing throughout my mind. Matters. Ideas. Thoughts. Everything. Did Yuki's message have another meaning to it? Was there some sort of engraving on the dagger? I didn't understand anything. Why did she have to give me the dagger? What was the point? Was there some sort of message to gain from it?

Sighing, I got out of bed and silently crept back out to the kitchen to retrieve the note back. I lit a boxed candle in the kitchen once I reached there and set it on the table. I sat down in one of the chairs, making myself comfortable, before re-reading the letter.

_Hello Zoro,_

_Just for your travels._

_Koshiro asked me to give it to you on my way to Oshaniwa._

_Have fun,_

_Yuki_

I read the letter over and over again. Maybe there was a secret message in the letter. I _knew._ I _absolutely_ knew that Yuki wasn't the type to just leave me a letter after she traveled all the way from my village to here just to give the dagger to me. I _knew_ there had to be some importance to the dagger, but what was it? There were a million possibilities, yet only _one_ was the right one.

Out of rage, I threw the letter in the air—clearly frustrated.

"Wow, Yuki, wow," I muttered to myself, closing my eyes. "You_ sure_ know how to push all my buttons, don't you?"

It wasn't long before I smelled a burning aroma in the air. I opened my eyes almost immediately and then realized that the parchment paper I threw in the air moments earlier landed on top of the candle.

I mentally thanked the world for not burning the entire ship on fire. I noticed some sort of writing behind on the back of the paper. I quickly flipped it over and began reading.

_Dear Zoro,_

_I missed you so much the past few years._

_How's it been?_

_Koshiro and I miss you at home._

_Takao's grown up now, and, if I say so myself, he could beat you in a battle (one day)._

_About the letter a while ago, it's fine. I understood what it was like._

_In any case, I found a dream for myself._

_A goal, and it's a nice one._

_I'm trying to find the spring of Toyaki._

_I know what you're thinking. It's stupid._

_Why dedicate my life to finding a stupid stream._

_Well, it's not some spring, Zoro._

_People say that when you drink it, it can heal any injury, give you wisdom, or let you see the world in a more clever light._

_There's different legends of this special water. People know it exists, but no one has found it yet._

_It's kind of like devil fruits, but, some people have found it, but not this kind of treasure._

_It's water. A gift of change. A gift of flow. A gift of life._

_That's what I want to find, but enough of me now._

_I know you'll become the best swordsman in the world one day, if not today._

_We all at home know you will._

_~Yuki_


End file.
